Dreams or reality?
by Rainy.Incense
Summary: An ordinary girl going by the name Scarlet has problems sleeping. Meaning she sleeps too much and too deep. Now as she lays her head to sleep again she find herself having a lucid dream meeting Luffy at the start of his journey.
1. And your gift is

She was abruptly brought back from dreamland as her mother yelled her name, shaking her viciously. "God dammit Scar! What the hell did you do last night?!"

The girl in question was having a hard time sitting up. She seemed much disoriented as she looked around her with half-lidded eyes.

"We have been trying to wake you for so many times but you wouldn't even twitch when we spray cold water on your face.

"Just…-ugh" Her mother lets out an exasperated sigh and leaves the room furiously.

Scarlet gets out of bed slowly on unbalanced feet. She enters the bathroom and looks in the mirror. She looks like a ghost. Her 16-year old body is almost bones and no meat; there are black bags under her hazel eyes which is perfect contrast with her white-as-sheet skin. Her brown hair that reaches by her ribs is disheveled and wet. She recalls her mother saying that they dumped water on her. Figures.

It was another night she slept badly. She can barely wake up as of late. Does she love sleep that much? The girl decided to put the matter of in favor to getting ready to leave. She goes through her morning routine habitually and by the time her father is raging once again at her and threatening not to give her a ride to school she is tying her shoelaces then running desperately after him through the door. There is quite a long ride from her house in the south-east of London to her school.

Scarlet sighs and places her forehead against the window of the car. The chillness of it feels refreshing against her slight fever. Lately, she has been sleeping so deeply that she is afraid one day she might not wake up. She chuckles quietly at her own pessimism. It probably comes with the weariness she has been experiencing since a few weeks ago. She sneaks a peek at her father whose eyes are fixated on the road ahead. She can tell he is angry by the deep frown he wears and by how tightly his jaw is clenched. But who could blame him, considering Scarlet just missed two classes because they were unable to rouse her. There are a few wrinkles of concern etched on his forehead as well. But she is does not worry further about it. She does not mind getting a few more hours of sleep at all. She also does not blame her unhealthiness on the fact that she sleeps too much. It might just be another symptom.

It was nothing out of the ordinary that happened that day at school. And as usual when Scarlet arrived home a powerful wave of tiredness washed over her and she simply crashes on her bed, at least having the common sense of changing out of her clothes. They didn't make good pajamas anyway. She vaguely notices her older sister has arrived home before her and is very concentrated on the episode playing on the screen of her computer. Just like any other day. The exhausted girl is fast asleep in just a few minutes.

The brunette slowly comes to again as she feels water lapping around her. She spends a moment enjoying the comforting feeling before frowning deeply, realizing something is wrong. Unless there was a severe flood that reached a bit higher than her bed. She sits up abruptly; realizing there is no way that a flood has come. Her breath hitches in her throat as her too-wide eyes meet the grayscale scenery before her. She is on an island, more exactly on the shore. A thick forest starts not too far behind from where she sits and the vast ocean is spreading out in front of her until it disappears beyond the horizon. She lifts her hands and looks at them. She yelps in shock as she sees her hands sprout 7 fingers each. And her feet are missing 3 toes. After a few minutes of trying to breathe right she realizes what is happening.

"I am dreaming." She assures herself and laughs.

"I am having a lucid dream!" She laughs in joy, her previous fright washing away

. Now she wonders why the world looks so anime-like. Maybe she has watched too much of it. She is disappointed her dream is not in color but her excitement is not subsided in the least. She has wanted to have a lucid dream since forever! She jumps to her feet and smiles widely as she throws her arms up. She notices she is dressed in the same way she went to bed earlier - in some pajamas a bit too short for her. But she doesn't care. She lets out a few shouts of pure enthusiasm before she does what she has always desired. Her feet soon leave the sand and are dangling up in the air as she levitates. Seeing as she can fly, she bolts up in the air, screaming in happiness.

But her bliss is short lived as she finds herself crashing towards the forest. Her previous scream of euphoria morph quickly into one of absolute terror. This might be a dream but it is scary as hell! It feels so real as she watches the forest-covered island expand and expand as she falls from between the clouds and air that whips her hair violently and if it were just a bit more powerful, Scarlet could swear it would cut her skin. She clenches her jaw, bracing herself for the impact. She finds comfort in her chants like: this-is-just a-dream, or it-won't-hurt and she-will-wake-up-before-hitting-the-ground. But she does hit something, but it's sure as hell that it isn't the ground. She could swear it felt rubber.

Then she ricochets in the nearest tree. She shouts in pain, her shoulder taking most of the force and bleeding from the collision. She bawls as she feels pain on intensity that she has never felt before. This is supposed to be a dream! Why does it hurt?!

There are a few shouts coming from in front of her and her cracks an eye open, her crying ceasing instantly as she sees a huge body being flying her way. Her reflexes take over and she barely avoids being crushed. She stares absolutely terror-stricken as a bunch of people holding fucking swords and two boys have their gazes locked on her. One of them seems especially furious

. Scarlet is hyperventilating by now. No-no-no-no this is quickly turning into a nightmare. Her eyes cloud again with tears. The boy wearing a straw-hat shifts his eyes and orders something to the men facing him. Something about a boat. The younger one approaches Scarlet slowly. She so afraid that she can't even hear what he says. She pulls up her knees and sobs, hoping she would wake up already. The heavens decide to once again not side with her as she feels two hands on her shoulders and shaking her; quite violently.

Her shoulder throbs even harder from the torture and she snaps her head up and catches the question asked by the straw-hat boy. "Miss, are you okay?" She freezes once again as she recognizes him. Monkey D. Luffy. What the fuck? Now she is dreaming anime characters? But she calms down a little, the fact that before her is an anime character is reminding herself this is a dream. She looks up at the boy and nods hesitantly as she bites her lower lip. Now that fear is not numbing her senses pain once again throbs through her arm.

"Whoop!" Luffy laughs " I was so surprised when you crashed into me, lady!" He says loudly.

"what were you doing up in the sky?" He gives a hearty laugh again.

"hey lady you're wearing some funny clothes." She turns red. She should have worn her good pajamas.

"W-w-wait Luffy-san! " The glasses boy next to him finally manages to draw his attention and stumbles on his words. She recognizes him as Coby, the boy who dreams of becoming a marine.

"L-l-look at her arm!" And as Luffy does that, slightly confused, and she does too. She starts crying once again at the sight. Her pajama is tattered and her arm is bloody and bruised. Her shoulder might even be dislocated or in worse shape.

"Wa-wait wait lady I thought you said you were ok!" Luffy says a bit frantic, quickly taking his hands off her shoulders and seeing his right hand coated with warm blood.

" Mentally!" Scarlet whines loudly before bawling even harder as she drops her knees to the ground and grabs her shaking arm.

"Coby do you anything about wounds?" Luffy looks anxiously at the smaller boy, feeling helpless against the pain the girl is showing. He feels a bit responsible too since he was to one that directed her into a tree. Cony looks even more at loss concerning what to do his forehead is beaded with sweat and his brows are raised. Luffy snaps his head towards the pirates who have remained still in fear and confusion.

"Do any of you know how to patch up a wound?" He yells in rage, glaring at them darkly. Some hurry over instantly and crouch down next to the sobbing girl. One of them rips the texture which is glued to her wound on her left shoulder and the other surveys the wound with agitated moves. Luffy is watching them closely, his hands fisted while Coby takes a step back.

After a while the two boys are sitting in the small boat provided by Alvida's crew, the girl is getting ready to embark with them as a member of the other party ties another bandage across her shoulder. She mumbles her thanks and gets in the boat with shaky legs.

Then they depart. Luffy no longer wears a serious expression and Coby seems a bit more relaxed as they talk about the pirate hunter Zoro and how Luffy wants him on his crew. Scarlet smiled slightly, already knowing that he will succeed.

"So lady what is your name? I'm Monkey D. Luffy! The man who is going to become pirate king!" He exclaims ambitiously while standing up and throwing his fist in the air.

"Luffy-san! You shouldn't be standing up on such a small boat!" Coby frets as he tries to get the captain to sit down. Scarlet laughs as the two boys stubbornly argue.

"Scarlet. That is my name. Thank you for helping me before." Luffy finally sits down and smiles widely

"No problem lady!" then his expression turns sour and looks at Coby.

"Chet...He is Coby, mister party-pooper" He points at him with a pout. That earns him another 'Luffy-san!' from the boy. They proceed to fight again and she laughs. She is filled with elation that she has met these two. Even better than flying! Which was obviously not a good idea. The sounds of their voices slowly become muffled as her vision blackens. She has taken this as an end of her dream.

Well, it wasn't bad; besides the all being thrown in a tree part. She met Luffy which is the protagonist in one of her favorite series. What could be better than that? But she has not forgotten the pain. Ah, it's still throbbing severely through her shoulder and arm. It was quite a shock to receive so much pain in a dream. She screams as her eyes open widely and she sits up quickly grabbing her wounded shoulder. She is back in her room, under her warm sheets, and her sister jumped out of her seat at the sudden noise and her eyes are frantically roaming over Scarlet's body. The pain is not gone. It intensified a great deal of times and now feels as if someone is repeatedly shoving a dagger through her already hurt shoulder. Maybe it's just her imagination that she is hurt in reality because of how realistic it seemed in her dream. But as she drags her hand away from her limb and looks at it her facial features are darkened in horror. Her palm is painted red with warm blood.


	2. Already separated?

Scarlet watched the puffy smudges of white moving on the light grey sky as she was lying in the hull of the small boat, her feet dangling over the edge. After recovering from the shock of returning from a dream wounded, Scarlet was driven to the hospital and stitched up then kept under observation for a few dull hours. Then she was discharged with the clear orders to rest from the doctor. That certainly didn't pose a problem. Her wound caused quite a big commotion in her family and they were all served the made-up story that she fell on the stairs. Of course they weren't satisfied an asked her more details but she brushed them off, pretending that she was drained from all the action. Scarlet was not feeling hesitant in the least to lay her head to sleep again, but at that time it would've been fruitless. Yet here she were, asleep once again, aware in a dream.

Her previous surprise had worn off after a few long minutes of solitude. She was in the same small boat Luffy acquired in her last dream which was tied by a pole to prevent it from drifting off. The small town spread out on the sides of the wide street in front, the marine base visible farther off. _Roronoa Zoro is to be recruited here_, Scarlet thought as she rubbed her eyes wearily.

"Can I just forget what it's going to happen?" Scarlet complained to herself. It was really not entertaining at all to know the future. Maybe if she did something stupid and disturbed it... But what if that got in the way of Luffy's adventure? So she branded it as a bit no-no.

"Maybe I'll just peek around..." She whispered with a foxy glint in her eyes. She didn't know what was the deal with these two consecutive lucid dreams, but damn her if she wasn't going to enjoy them to the fullest. She stood up in the gently rocking boat and climbed on the pavement.

There weren't many shops, just tall houses glued to each other. The people were also few on the street. She felt like she was being eyed strangely which sparked a decent level of discomfort. Even more perplexing that in the pocket of her pajamas she found a good amount of belli. She didn't remember her pajamas having pockets in the first place. Putting off that thought for now, she decided that finding some new clothes was the highest priority on her list. The cut and shredded garments that hanged from her figure just added to her inconvenience.

She entered what appeared to be a clothing shop with a greeting to the person standing behind the wooded counter. The woman, seemingly around her mid forties, smiled pleasantly at her costumer. Scarlet browsed what the shop had to offer quickly before finding a light one-piece dress. It really fit her tastes and she really wanted to buy it, but it was too long for her. Her short stature once again got in the way.

" Do you have anything like this one, only shorter?" Scarlet inquired hopefully as she flashed the dress to the woman. And in a few minutes she came pulled out a white dress very similar to the one the girl showed. And pleasingly, it fit her perfectly! Scarlet paid, wearing a satisfied grin on her face and along with the dress she bought a pair of black boots as well. She didn't really prefer walking barefooted.

After a few minutes of looking around what the town had to offer and spending more of belli, she was stopped by the raspy voice of a street vendor.

" Ah, lass, wait up." He spoke in a very thick voice. He looked really fishy, Scarlet noted. He had a black cloth warped around his head that hid most of his features and she wondered how he could cope wearing so much on such a hot day. " The moment I've seen you I knew that I had something that would fit you perfectly." He searched his small bag that was laid next to him. He pulled two large golden rings from which a long earring-like ornament hanged. The rings had a pair of teeth on the sides and it gave a nice shine as if it were made from pure gold. They appeared to be some kind of hair accessories.

Scarlet approached and weighted them in her hands. Their slight heaviness left her wondering what material it was made from. " These are really nice mister~" Scarlet cooed. "What price do they have?"

"No,no, I cannot accept money from such a cute lass. Take them as a gift from on old man." He said a bit impatiently. Very fishy. It was like her was trying to get rid on the rings on purpose.

" Then I guess you're not a really good at business mister!" Scarlet laughed cheerfully before saying her thanks and walking away. Whatever mystery the rings brought with them, she would welcome it.

Scarlet was back at the boat, waiting anticipatory for the two men to make their appearances. And just when she was about to start hurling insults at them for taking so long to come she heard footsteps nearing and a few familiar voices speaking. She couldn't help the grin that spread on her face. She pretended to be still asleep so they could say their goodbyes in peace.

After they finally set sail, Scarlet decided to 'wake up'. She faked a yawn and fluttered her eyes open. " Mornin' Luffy-san..." The girl mumbled as she rubbed her eye in a drowsy manner.

" OH! You're up!" The captain grinned widely. " Man, you really slept a lot! Are you ok?" Scarlet shifted in a more comfortable sitting position and nodded. " Yes, all better!" She imitated him and grinned.

"Say, you look kind of different hmmm..." The boy examines her closely, a finger rubbing his jaw thoughtfully. She could bet that he wouldn't notice that her clothes weren't the same. She braided her head too, in two braids on the sides of her head which then she coiled and used the rings she got from the fishy dude to hold them in place. She kinda looked like princess Leia.

" Oi Luffy, who is this?" Zoro finally decided to speak up. " This is Scarlet!" He replied loudly before proceeding to tell his first mate the story of their meeting.

Zoro just eyed her warily and she started back very intently. Why was he looking at her in such a manner? Was there something on her face? And as if reading her mind, she got her answer.

" Oi Luffy could you tell your little friend to stop staring at me? The red is really freaky." _Red_? Scarlet rose an eyebrow questioningly. Before voicing her thought.

" Your eyes, your freaking red eyes." Zoro drew a circle around his eyes with his finger in the air to empathize his point. " I know, they are really weird right?!" Luffy agreed as he snickered. Why were they saying she had red eyes? Was this another queer dream alternation? 'Cause last time she checked her eyes were perfectly brown.

" Ne, Scarlet, where do you come from?" Luffy askes eagerly and Zoro just closed his eyes, but keeping an ear open to hear her answer.

" Uhh... well..." Come on! Think of an island name! The girl urged herself. "I come from a very mysterious island, Luffy-san" She smirked smugly as she thought of a perfect story, which was, partially true actually. " And My kind can return there only when I am sleeping. It's called, Dream Island!" She exclaimed proudly.

"OOHH That is so cool !" Luffy seemed to have bought everything. " Yosh! Let's visit that island!" The boy seemed even motivated to do so and Scarlet laughed awkwardly.

" I am very sorry Luffy-san, but I do not know the way back." She pulled on her best pitiable expression.

" THEN don't worry! We'll help you get there!" Luffy smiles as she pat her head roughly as Zoro mumbled something about being bothersome.

" Hey Scarlet, are you an musician? Wanna join my crew?" He grinned and the girl sweat-dropped, shaking her head to deny. " I'm sorry Luffy-san but I ain't one." Luffy deflated a little and Scarlet felt a little guilty.

" Ah,ah, but I'm a good dancer! Does that count?" She bit her lip hopefully. " And I can sing a little..  
"That's awesome!" Luffy replied with a yell. "YOSH! Join my crew!" He said on a tone that left no room to argue.

"Sure." She smiled, " At least show some hesitation!" Marimo barked as he was taken aback by her lack of it. She laughed before asking where they were heading, as if she held no knowledge on the matter.

" I dunno! Shishishi " Luffy laughed as he crossed his arms over his chest. Scarlet began complaining about his recklessness to sail without any knowledge of navigation, then, with a red face, she admitted that she had no idea either. And Marimo was worse than both of them.

Soon enough, all three of them were sprawled in the boat moaning in their hunger. " Ah, a bird." Zoro said and Luffy commented on it looking tasty. "Let's eat that bird!" The captain got up sat up quickly. The swordsman wondered out loud how they are going to eat it. Then Luffy launched himself towards it, only to have his head bit by the bird.

"YOU IDIOT!" Zoro shouted while Scarlet had started laughing really hard and pointing at their captain. " Haa...haa... Luffy you're really stupid.." She yelled at him in between laughs.

Zoro was rowing the boat as fast as could, being careful not to lose sight of the rubberman. Meanwhile, Scarlet was standing and holding onto the mast while singing cheerfully 'Row row row your boat~'. "Stop being so calm!" Zoro shouted at her too. Oh so fierce~~ " But Zorooo~" Scarlet whined and turned her head to look at him like a kid whose toy had just been taken away.

"Hey stop the boat!" There were three men flailing in the water a bit further away. Zoro didn't even think of stopping and when they still managed o climb in the boat Zoro complimented their skill. Scarlet has just crouched down in the hull and kept quiet.

"Stop the boat! You're in Buggy-sama's territory!" One of the men threatened, pulling out a sword. Zoro just raised an eyebrow before giving them a good beating. Scarlet couldn't help but giggle at the three men's attitude change. They were made to row the boat also.

"oh yea, how did you three get in the middle of the ocean?" Zoro asked after scolding them for making lose track of his friend. " It was that girl! ", "That bad girl!..", " ...But she was really cute, too" The three pirates answered at the same time. They told Zoro about Nami and how they got fooled by her. Scarlet was really excited to meet Nami too so she kept glancing in the way the island was supposed to be.

" How come you are so quiet when before you wouldn't stop singing and laughing?" Zoro startled her and looked at her questioningly. She just pouted and stared at him while hugging her knees to her chest. He just sighed.

-–•  
The boat was already docked by the three men who seemed to have become Zoro's subordinates. They offered him some information about the village and Buggy the pirate and Zoro decided to go ask him about Luffy.

"Oi, Scarlet, are you coming?" He asked impatiently. She 'ah'-ed as it dawned on her that he thought she was going to tag along. She scrambled to her feet and hurried out of the boat, stepping on her dress when trying to climb on the wooden dock. She was heading face-first toward the wood but Zoro managed to catch a handful of her dress around the portion of her back and she was now hovering over the ground. The color drained from her face as she stared at lumber, hoping Marimo won't drop her.

" Do you even weight 20 kilos?" Zoro questioned as he rose and lowered the girl in the air. " It's like I'm not actually holding anything." He continued and she started flailing around "Put me doooownnn Zoro-oooo!" Scarlet whined and he obliged with a sigh.

The cannon holding ' the special buggy cannon-ball' was pointed at the Luffy and the fuse was burning, and the rubberman was desperately chewing one of the iron bars of the cage he was locked into. Nami was sweating profusely and holding her weapon in front of buggy's pirates. She clenched her jaw and made a wide swing for the charging men, unfortunately not landing any hits. She let go of her weapon and clenched her hands around the lit fuse, burning her hands and putting it out. Just when the pirates were descending on her fast Zoro jumped on the building and saved her without even unsheathing his katanas.

"Zoro!" Luffy yelled his comrade's name with a wide grin plastered on his face. "Good thing you found this place! Get me out of here quick!" he said eagerly. Zoro scolded him and mocked his sense of fun while the others were shocked to hear the famous pirate-hunter was there.

" Have you come to take my head?" Buggy asked but Zoro disagreed. Buggy wanted to take his head so it will rise his fame but Marimo advised him not to engage him. But they did, and as soon as the swordsman swung his katanas with great skill the captain was cut, but at that time Zoro hadn't know it would be useless to try cutting him as Buggy had eaten the Bara Bara fruit. His carelessness resulted in him getting stabbed in the left side of his abdomen.

Scarlet finally managed to climb on the roof and she looked around panting a little. " Gah! Luffy-san! What in the world are you doing in that cage?!" Scarlet chided him for being so reckless, momentarily forgetting that she actually knew why he was in that situation. " Ah, Scarlet, you came as well!" Luffy spared a moment to look at her and flash a grin before yelling to his first mate to run away. Zoro ran and defected Buggy's attack before moving under the cannon and flipping it on the other side. The other crew were wearing horrified expressions as the fuse began burning once again, finally blowing up.  
"This is a good time to go." Zoro returned to the cage. " Who are you anyway?" He glanced at Nami, panting. Luffy presented her as their new navigator, earning a yell denying it from the girl.  
" Zoro!" Scarlet shuddered at the ugly wounds and went to offer him some support, which he refused. " Ah, you finally arrived pipsqueak?" He chuckled as he straightened his back a little.  
Nami urged Luffy that he ought to get out of the cage but Zoro had different thoughts which made the three comrades worry greatly. " Zoro! Please put it downn" Scarlet pleaded as she watched blood gushing out of the stab faster than before. But in spite of their words, the ex-pirate hunter lifted the cage and they all got away.

Zoro exhaustingly put the cage down on the roof of the house, he was panting badly and even Scarlet could tell that his would throbbed worse. She crouched down next to him and a long and wide strip of material from her dress and lifted his shirt without warning. " What the hell are you doing?" He barked but she chose to ignore him as she warped the improvised bandage around his abdomen, tying very tightly. " You stupid shit! How could you be so careless?" Scarlet was still tightening the warp and Zoro was visibly wincing. Normally she would be too embarrassed to use swearing words but right now she was really sickened by how the red liquid was gushing out of his wound. She was not that worried since she knew he was going to survive- after suffering from extreme blood loss but still alive. He accepted that she was not going to leave him alone with an annoyed sigh and left her to finish her job before standing up and taking the cage down from the roof and start dragging it on the street.

" This is it. I can't walk anymore. I don't have enough blood." He fell down on the ground. Luffy was still trying to chew the bar of the cage.

"You said you were Nami right?" Scarlet looked at the girl and she nodded. " Don't you have the key to the cage?" The brunette raised her eyebrow and the taller woman seemed a little taken aback but said nothing.

Zoro was surprised by a dog's sudden appearance and sat up. " Is it dead?" Luffy asked as he poked his eyes. Then he face was bit by the dog. Scarlet laughed loudly at the scene before walking next to the dog and Luffy. She stopped their fight and starting patting the dog "Shushuuu~" She cooed lightly at the pet, the dog's head turning to her as he heard his name known by the stranger. " You have been working hard.." She smiled at him and continued to pat him while Nami flicked the key to the cage on the ground. Then Shushu swallowed it with a big gulp.

" Luffy-san don't strangle him pleaseee!" Scarlet was sobbing for the tortured animal as Luffy trying to make it spit they key out. Once the chief of the village caught their attention the dog was let go of and the girl hugged him closely. She loved animals so much~

A roar echoed on the streets and Mohji, riding on top of his lion's head, came into view. Nami and the chief had already ran away and Zoro was sleeping in a house next door. Scarlet and Luffy were the only one to be seen. The brunette hugged the pet closer, knowing what a beating he was going to get.

The next thing she knew is that Luffy's cage was smashed and he was flying into a wall. She stood frozen with her arms around the dog.  
"oh It's a pet shop. Good, Richie finish up your meal." Mohji said and Shushu started growling audibly. "What the hell is with this dog?" The beast tamer seemed to finally take notice of the white animal when it started barking. " It can't be possibly guarding this store...? and who're you?" Mohji raised an eyebrow and looked at the red-eyed girl.

" Leave him alone...!" Scarlet said weakly as her hands began trembling a little. Mohji was not that intimidating but a super-sized lion surely did a good job. He beast swung his enormous paw and threw away Shushu, Scarlet also hitting the ground with a thud as she was holding onto the dog. It broke out of her embrace and started barking viciously, blood gushing out from the fresh wound on his side. It attempted to stop the lion by biting his paw but was thrown away again.

" Shushu!" Scarlet cried after him, knowing how precious that store was to the dog. She didn't want to see the dog getting hurt further. She had a dog a long time ago but it died being shot by some criminals, and before she knew it she had developed a need to save every wounded animal. She stopped her memories from the past and whipped her head to the beast tamer, being careful to send him an especially hateful glare before standing up on her weak legs and running towards him. " How dare you do that to Shushu's treasure!" She yelled desperately when she saw him flick a lit match towards the pet shop. The tamer stood in place to watch his doings with a pleased smirk, not even hearing the girl. She quickly climbed to the roof of a house and with a sudden burst of courage as he watched the wounded dog start crying at the sight of his treasure in flames, she tackled the beast tamer.

" How dare you...! " She pinned him down on the ground, taking his surprise to her advantage and giving him a good punch to the face. When he recovered it was clear who was stronger. He glared at her and insulted her verbally when his lion noticed his missing rider and hit Scarlet across her back, effectively making some ugly gushes. She was throw away and now was sobbing loudly. Half from the intense pain she was experiencing and half from her inability to do anything.

Luffy came around the corner and his eyes widened at the sight of the pet shop in flames, the dog barking at it with tears in its eyes and his comrade lying on the ground in a pool of expanding red liquid. "Scarlet..!" He shouted momentarily before going after the beast tamer with a new founded rage.

"Shushuuu~Shushuuu~" Scarlet called, interrupted by hiccups. This caught the dogs attention. She gestured for him to approach and it did so. " I'm sorry boy... I'm sorry I couldn't help " She sobbed while gently patting the dog. It seemed to pity her as it started to lick her salty tears from her cheeks. Soon her stopped her tears and took the pain silently. Shushu was looking at the burnt wood that was left of his home. Luffy returned at this time and gave the dog a carton of food he recovered. Then Shushu took it and left with a bark.

" Oi Scarlet" Luffy looked at her " Are you ok?" He crouched beside her. " Just great." She croaked. Nami and the chief also came to her aid and transported her in the same house as Zoro before warping her wounds up. " Sorry." She looked sadly at Nami, who was doing the job. " Could you tell that to Luffy?" Nami looked as if she wanted to ask something else but refrained herself and instead just nodded.

The next hours were blur as she fell asleep in the comfortable chair even though she knew the house would be blasted in a little while. She was surprised to see she was still inside the dream when she woke up. She was on a small bed in a wooden room with Shushu sleeping next to her. She stood up slowly, wincing from the pain that movement brought her. She could feel the bed rocking lightly and she wondered of they were at sea again. But if it was so, why was Shushu here?

She got out of the bed sorely, fortunately not waking the dog up in the process. She had to crouch to get out of the small door, resulting in biting her lip from the pain throbbing through her back. The brunette stepped out and saw that next to this boat was a smaller one in which the other three were. Zoro noticed her first and pointed her out to Luffy who saluted her loudly. She came to the side of the boat and rested her elbows on it, smiling at the trio softly.

" How are you feeling? " Nami asked, returning the smile. They all seemed in bright spirits. " I'm fine fine" Scarlet replied. " Why is Shushu with us?" She raised an eyebrow and pointed over her shoulder to the door from which she came previously.

" It followed you to the boat, barking at us when we tried to make him get off." Nami laughed. " I guess he took a liking to you." That comment made Scarlet grin wider and giggle.  
" Can I come on your boat too?" She asked innocently and the others raised their brows and smiled, beckoning her. She climbed on the side of the boat carefully, breathing out deeply from the pain of the skin stretching on her back. She was helped down by Luffy who was nearest to her and she sat down. " Hehehe, sorry, I got lonely over there." She laughed sheepishly.

They began talking and laughing as they sailed . Scarlet huddled together with Nami, both being cold by the time night fell.

" Did you visit your island while you were asleep?" Luffy remembered what she said. "Strangely, no." She too was baffled.  
" I need new clothes again.." Scarlet pouted and shot a look to Zoro. " Hey don't look at me like that. You ripped your dress on your own accord." He defended himself immediately.

" I could lend you some." Nami looked down at the shorter girl and smiled. She already felt like a little sister to her. Scarlet rolled her eyes over the older girl's body. " I'm probably too skinny and short for them." She whined cutely.

" Shishishi you'll just buy some on the next island." Luffy crossed his arms and leaned onto the side of the boat. Scarlet nodded and a moment of silence set in.

The weather was starting to get too foggy to see where they were going and Scarlet vaguely wondered if they already past the island with the man whose body was stuck in a chest.

" I hope we won't crash into anything.." Nami muttered as she squinted her eyes alertly. " Don't worry, we won't come across anything around here." Zoro spoke with his eyes closed. He probably rounded these waters a few times while trying to find a island. Scarlet chuckled.

But no sooner that he said that, the shape of a ship could be seen as it was almost brushing against theirs. They froze as they saw the mark on the open sails. The marines. " What did you say about empty waters?" Nami seethed in whisper as Zoro just told her to shut up.

The few shouts were heard coming from the ship. They seemed to have taken notice of the bigger boat which Nami stole. They probably thought Buggy was around.  
" Quickly row away!" Nami was agitated and Zoro started rowing . Scarlet got up and mumbled something about Shushu and climbed to the other boat. Nami also wanted to follow but guns were fired by some of the marines and the ropes that kept the bots straying from each other while they were all huddled together on Luffy's boat were cut by a few bullets.

"Stop rowing stop rowing!" Nami yelled fiercely as they got further from her boat. " My treasureeeee" She cried " Scarlet's still on the boat!" Luffy shot to his feet. But Buggy's mark quickly blended with the fog as the drifted away.

A few marine officers had jumped in the boat with their weapons drawn, expecting a bunch of pirates to attack them. But there was only a short girl to be seen. She looked terrified as she sat with her back against the small wooden door. She gulped. The men shot looks between each other and after making sure there was no one else on the boat, put away their weapons. " Hey lil' girl how did you get this boat?" One of them crouched down in front of her. "And who were your friends that rowed away?" He looked at her suspiciously.

_Need to think of something quickly_... Scarlet started sweating as her back ached more from her tense muscles. " Uh, my friends and I docked at this island earlier on which a pirate with a big red nose was... So I took one of his boats so I could escape with my friends faster..." She mumled, looking in the marine officer's eyes the whole time.

" What's your name?" He asked his mood slackened, obviously brushing her off the threat list. _Good question... What is my name?_ "Akaumi." She responded as quickly as she could. The man spoke to the other two and they decided to take Scarlet up on the ship. They told her to gather her belongings as they waited.

She scrambled in the cramped room of the boat and was met by Shush, who had woken up in the meantime and was probably waiting for someone to come. "Shushu, come on." She whispered. She had nothing else to take right..? She saw the bag holding half of Buggy's treasure and found some clothes of Nami's in a drawer. She stuffed them over the shiny jewels and lifted the heavy bundle.

One of the men seemed to have returned to the ship to report of their findings and the remaining ones were waiting patiently. " Ready?" The one who presented himself as Gebbo wore a relaxed smile on his face. She took it as a sign they believed her every word, or they were making her comfortable only to throw her in prison once she stepped on the ship. She went with the former.

Gebbo looked like he was in his thirties, had shaggy brown hair and his chin was covered in stubble. He had black eyes which wrinkled handsomely when he smiled. He had a well chiseled physique but not too bulky. He wore the standard white marine shirt and blue and grey cargo pants. A gun strapped to his belt was his weapon of choice.

He offered to help her with her baggage and she accepted his help, winging hard at a sudden painful throb in her back. Her stitched up wounds had been noticed already as her dress was shredded and offered a good view of them. That or they could they a hint from the wide dried stains of blood on the back of her white dress.

"Benny, you take her up." Gebbo told Ben, the other guy left on the boat.

Unlike Gebbo, Ben seemed younger, around his mid twenties, and had a very handsome face. He had medium length black hair with center parting. His face was void of emotion and he had some deep blue eyes. He wore the same shirt as Gebbo, only the trousers and footwear differing. He had black trousers on and navy blue boots.

Ben nodded at the order and crouched down motioning for the girl to climb on his back. She would have been embarrassed if any other situation than this one. She warped her arms around his neck and again winced at the throbbing. A stitch probably popped.. Ben stood up and she tightened her hold on the man's waist with her legs as he started to climb on the rope back to the ship.

He set her down once they were on deck and the first thing that she noticed was all the marine officers gathered to look at what the men brought in. She promptly hid behind Ben, feeling very self-conscious and slightly scared. " Akami-san." Ben looked down at her and dragged her out of his shadow and inside the galley. She said Akaumi but whatever. Akami was better on so many levels anyway.

She sat down on a chair as Ben went and called the ships's doctor. It seemed that she had guessed correctly, and indeed, a few stitches popped and her dress was coloring red even further. She was left alone to think things through. She came to a sudden realization. " I see in color..." She whispered in wonder as she drank in all the colors of the room. Why hadn't she noticed earlier? Since when did the grayscale scenery changed to a colorful one?

Shushu running to her and barking woke her up from her thoughts and she smiled and took the pet up in her arms. Gebbo came into view and smiled when he found her. He took a seat across of her and put the bag down on the table.

" So Aka-" He stopped abruptly when his eyes met hers. She hugged the dog tighter and looked insecurely at the older man. " Gebbo-san..?" She spoke and he seemed to snap out of his awe. " I've been on the sea since I was small" Gebbo started with a hearty laugh " But I've never seen eyes as red as yours!" Scarlet's cheeks flushed in embarrassment. She really wanted to see what was the big deal.

Ben and two other man who she suspected that were the doctor and captain. Not that they were a white lab coat with the marine mark on it and respectively a navy blue coat on which simply screamed 'I am the captain!'. They were deep in discussion when they neared but stopped as they noticed her eyes. "Are they also surprised by my eyes?" Scarlet turned to Gebbo who smiled widely.

" Kiddo of course they'd be surprised! On the boat your irises were pitch black I swear!" He laughed then stood up. " Want some milk?" He said as he rummaged through the cuboards of the kitchen to find a glass. " or water?" H continued when he found one.

The doctor approached and cleared his throat. Scarlet flinched and snapped her head in his direction. He shouldn't creep up on people... Scarlet's expression probably resembled a kicked puppy right now because the doctor looked at her a bit guilty.

" Sorry for scaring you." He apologized. " My name is Goldy. I'm the ship's doctor." He bowed his head a little before moving behind her and inspecting her wounds.

Goldy, as his name might have hinted, had a mop of blond hair which sticked out in every direction. He wore circular glasses and seemed to be somewhere around the age of Ben and the height of Scarlet. He built was scawny.

" Hello lass, I'm the captain of this ship, Cornelius. " He spoke the words proudly and she smiled at him. " Welcome abroad. " He returned the grin and engaged discussion with her on random topics. Gebbo brought her a glass of water and a sandwich to eat and he sat down next to his captain across of her. Ben, too, sat down but didn't join in the conversation.

Cornelius was very haphazard with his questions. He asked about where she was from then what was her favorite color, what she thought of the marines, what was her age etc. He seemed even more fueled when e got a genuine laugh out of her.

"I like you, Aka-chan! " He laughed as he confessed. He had a mug of bear in his hand and more of the crew came into the galley to meet the girl. "You should join the marines!" She laughed sheepishly in response.

"I'm really weak, Cornelius-san. I wouldn't survive!" She said truthfully earning another laugh from the men.

"Nobody is born strong, kiddo. If you don't start you'll just remain as you are." Gebbo spoke calmly, a pint of booze in his hand also. But he seemed unaffected. He was mocked slightly for his deep words by some men and laugh resounded in the galley.

Scarlet liked these marines. They were nice and simple, brave and powerful, just and kind. Perfect form of justice. Yet she also knew of the shadow of it... She missed Luffy and the rest. She hoped they would continue on their way but she also hoped she would be found by them. It was selfish of her, considering they were pirates.

"What do you say, lass?" The captain pinned her with a persuasive should she do... She was sure he wouldn't mind of she declined but they showed her such kindness and welcomed her with open arms... Plus what Gebbo said was true and weighting a lot on her mind. "I..." She bit her tongue and all the room went silent, everyone expectant of her answer. " Do you really think I can manage?" She gave a sheepish grin and all the room exploded in happy cheers. Seems as not only the captain took a liking to her.

Cornelius seemed really pleased and he assured her that everyone would help into making her the finest marine there is. She told herself that she would become stronger, so much stronger, here, in this world. That is, if she returned like before. And she would meet again with the crew on Shabondy Archipelago after Whitebeard's death. She saddened at the thought of what was going to come. Maybe.. Maybe she could even do something about Ace's..death... She cried hard when she read that part in the manga. She didn't want to experience it.

"Captain, where will Akami-san sleep?" Ben spoke in his monotone voice and the man in question was a bit surprised. Obviously, he hadn't thought that far.

"She can sleep in my room and I'll just sleep in the men's quarters." He resumed his jolly mood. " No, I don't want to be a bother.." Scarlet waved her hands. "Is that so? Then, do you have any problems with sleeping in the men's quarters?" Everyone listening sweat-dropped. I was clear as day that he didn't want to leave his room.

"She can sleep in the infirmary." Goldy spoke up. Cornelius snapped his fingers and rose his beer pint to the doctor. "Good thinking Goldy!" He laughed loudly.

The doctor was still behind her, cleaning up her wounds as much as he could. He said the stitching had been done poorly, but they were holding, so he just repaired the suture where it needed fixing and was now finishing up with cleaning the dried blood from around her wounds.

" Do you want to retire for the night?" Goldy caught her attention and she nodded. " I will go now. I am feeling very weary." She laughed lightly when they all whined. " I will see you tomorrow!" She gave a small wave and walked after the doctor with her bag in her hand.

The infirmary was slightly cramped but it was comfortable enough. Goldy showed her where the bathroom was and she gladly scrubbed off the rest of the dried red from her body. She changed in Nami's clothes, which fit her good, as pajamas, and slipped under the covers of a white bed. The golden hair rings were put away on the small table between her bed and another. She slipped into unconsciousness as quickly as her head hit the pillow. That marked the end of 2 days spent inside the dream.  
-•

She only went to sleep a moment ago... So why was she waking up again? Scarlet cracked open an eye and was met with the familiar surroundings of her room. She sat up slowly, her back throbbing again. "That was one long dream..." She mumbled then giggled to herself as she slapped her hands over her face in excitement. "Amazing...!" she shouted then bit her lip. Ah, what time was it? The clock read 5 a.m. and she sighed. She dragged her feet to the bathroom and did her morning routine. Her parents woke up in the meantime. She walked into the kitchen and bid her mother good morning. Feeling of shock and relief washed over her face.

"Scarlet! You're awake!" She laughed and hugged the girl who was very confused. "What's wrong...?" Scarlet mumbled as she tried not to shout from the pain the tight embrace was bringing her.

Her mother let her go and looked at her funnily. "Scarlet, you have slept for two entire days without showing any signs of waking up!" _Ah is that so..._


	3. Too much?

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece;

The girl squinted to the white walls, which seemed to radiate from the strong sunlight pouring out from the narrow windows of the infirmary, as soon as her eyes cracked open. She moaned lightly as she sat up with aching joints. They should really change the mattresses; it would make patients very uncomfortable laying on them.

The infirmary itself wasn't so bad. It was quite a big room, shaped as a rectangular. The door was leading outside, and was placed right beside a desk which was always filled with papers. There was also a wide cupboard above the desk, but Scarlet didn't know what was inside. There were a total of 9 beds in the room. 5 were on the left side, 3 on the right side with the desk and one was pushed to the wall parallel with the door. That was Goldy's bed. The beds were crammed together, each being separated from the other by a few inches, enough space to be able to walk next to it.

She had chosen the last bed in the row of 5, because the last beds had a narrow bedside table in the gap between the bed and the wall. After her eyes adjusted to the high level of brightness in the room, she looked around. Goldy was also inside the infirmary, scribbling something furiously on a notebook. He was sitting at his desk with his back to her, appearing to be oblivious to her waking up. She wondered where Shushu was.

Scarlet dragged her fingers through her tangled hair in a quick attempt to evaluate her appearance then rubbed her eyes as a yawn escaped her. The louder sound seemed to rouse the awareness of the doctor proven that he stopped writing and looked up, but not turning around. She had stopped moving in anticipation of him facing him. But after a few moments he just returned to his previous occupation.

Her feet hovered above the floor while she was leaning over in search for her shoes. They were tucked under the bed, and she slipped the sandals on. "Good morning." She spoke politely after a few seconds of considering what course of action she should take.

Goldy turned around with a surprised expression before it morphed into a calm one. "How are you feeling, Akame-san?" He spoke on a leveled tone.

"I am slightly sore from the hard mattress, but otherwise, just fine." She smiled and stood up, walking to the bed nearest to the desk and sitting on the edge of it.

The doctor regarded her quizzically for a minute and Scarlet was starting to get uncomfortable until he finally spoke. "Do you remember who I am, and how you got here?" Scarlet frowned at him lightly, confused of why he would ask such questions.

"Sure I do, Goldy-san. Why are you asking me this?" She raised an unsure eyebrow. Goldy's expression shifted, showing his relief.

"These past two days you have been behaving very strangely." He said, creasing his brows in concern. "When you woke up the night after we found you, you claimed to have no memories of how you got on the ship or who we were. You almost had a panic attack and ran back to the only room you were familiar with, the infirmary, and locked yourself in. The mechanic had to break the lock in order for us to come in. Fortunately you had been sleeping but haven't roused until now." He finished his explanation and Scarlet was profusely confused.

She never thought of what happened with her body in this world while she went back to reality. It disappearing was an idea which quickly dissolved since Luffy had told her the second time she came here that she had been sleeping the whole time. Then why didn't that happen this time also? _How very complicated…! _She thought as she felt the urge to sigh loudly, but Goldy was looking at her intently, waiting for her to give him some sort of explanation.

"On the island before Buggy, I hit my head very hard against a tree. I felt no different besides the ache in my head and had no external injuries. But maybe it messed up my brain…" She adopted a thoughtful expression on pose. She could solve this mystery later; now she had to fix this problem.

Goldy seemed to buy the story, which was not totally false. His expression once again became a concerned one but Scarlet waved it off. "If that ever happens to me again just carefully explain the situation again and maybe I'll come back to my senses." She smiled reassuringly.

"I'll leave you to change. Come to the galley afterwards. You know how to get there, right? It's right beside the infirmary." With an approving nod from the girl, Goldy stood up and left her alone in the room.

She looked around the room, searching for her bag. She found it under the bed and quickly shuffled through its contents. She found some black leggings which reached above her knees and were reasonably fitting and a white t-shirt with three blue stripes over the chest. She didn't want to be too far from the marine uniform; otherwise she would feel out of place.

Among the jewels and cold she found an oval mirror trimmed with heavy gold and a silver comb decorated with red gems. She was quite taken aback by how her appearance changed. It was the same, but somehow, very different.

The structure of her face was the same. She had the same full lips, tinted pink and the same nose. Her skin was beautifully pale and smooth. But her eyes, oh god her eyes. She knew why the crew had been looking oddly at them. The irises were pure red, vivid, blood-like. They looked as the eyes a demon in the fairytales had. And they looked like the odd one out between her girly and soft features. It was so peculiar really, that she looked so mystically beautiful with that weird combination. And Scarlet was not a self-centered person at all; but she would lie to herself if she said her face wasn't fascinating.

She shook her head and drove her attention to her original purpose: combing her hair. Her tresses were not much different either; just a lighter shade of brown. It was not a tough job to untangle her hair, and after braiding her hair and coiling the two braids in buns and fixing them in place with the gold loops she was given for free, she was soon she was ready to go. She stuffed the bag under the bed, where it had been, and walked out of the infirmary.

The first thing that hit her was the unbearable heat that almost left her breathless. It was very hot and no sooner than a few steps she had already began sweating. The deck was populated, despite the high temperature. The men were all sweaty and panting as they were doing their jobs. She pitied them for a moment before quickly heading for the galley.

"Ah… Heaven." She sighed in relief at the pleasing chillness of the room.

She inspected the dining room then the kitchen. She didn't need to move to do that since the two places were merged as one, in order to use the unused space to something useful. The room was not small at all and a long table was in the middle, two long benches on each side of it. There were two chairs at each end of the table. There were many crew members so this was surprising in the least. The kitchen consisted of a long counter and many cupboards. At the current time, there was nobody using it.

At the table there were a few men, which she actually knew. She smiled and waved as Gebbo, Ben, Goldy and the captain interrupted their discussion to look at her. Goldy excused herself and walked out.

"Ah, Aka-Chan! I am glad to hear you are feeling better!" Gebbo laughed as he beckoned her to sit next to him.

"Yes. I am sorry for being a bother." She sounded apologetic, but wore a smile nonetheless. The captain laughed and assured her that it was no problem.

"So now that you are in shape again, I am planning to uphold my promise to you." Cornelius said before taking a mouthful of whatever he was drinking. "Promise…?" Scarlet asked, not too sure of what he was talking about.

"I've told you that we'll train you, didn't I? Then we will." _Ah, yes._ Scarlet nodded as she finally remembered. "You'll start from today. You are very skinny so we took the initiative to believe that you have a poor psychical condition."_ Not really, since I have been going to dance lessons since I was little_. She decided not to interrupt the captain.

"So you have to start by putting some meat on your bones and doing a lot of exercise. You will also do some swordplay lessons with Ben and Gebbo will teach you how to shoot a gun. I'll also take part in teaching you. I'll teach you more about this world and about the marines; also some basic navigation skills." He laughed heartily at her hesitant expression.

"Don't worry! We'll teach you everything we know and with that you will become the greatest marine yet!" He laughed again and Scarlet smiled hesitantly at his expectations. It seemed next to impossible to achieve.

"Gebbo and I have some jobs to finish so you should just go ahead and start your lessons with Ben. Don't push yourselves, drink lots of water and take regular brakes. "He instructed sternly. "It is very hot outside so the last thing I would want is you two suffering from heat strokes!"

Scarlet smiled and nodded, saying that they will be careful. And with that the captain left.

"You'll have lessons with me and Benny alternatively. A day swordplay and another gunning. And in the evenings you'll go to the captain's quarters to have your lessons with him." She felt like in school again.

"Well then, I have to go off to my post now so good luck!" He said encouragingly and left.

"Let's get going then." Ben rose to his feet. Scarlet bit her lip lightly. Sure, she wanted to get stronger and enjoy her time in this world to the fullest but she was not exactly eager to start such an exhausting schedule. Despite this, she followed him outside- and instantly regretted it. It was just so hot.

"By the way, Ben-san, have you seen Shushu anywhere?"She glanced around, missing the presence of her pet.

"Ah, he's probably up in the crow's nest." He said nonchalantly. Scarlet 'ahh'-ed in understanding.

"What's a crow's nest?" She asked, being very sure it didn't mean the nest of a crow. She raised her hand defensively when he shot her a look.

She blanked when he pointed to the small structure on the foremast. "What the hell is he doing there?!" She said, alarmed.

"Relax. One of the men took him up there. Though I have no idea why." Ben offered an explanation and she bit her lip. What if Shushu fell from there?

Ben persuaded her to relax and lead her to the back of the deck, behind the infirmary. There were a few barrels filled with all kinds of weapons. He pulled out two swords and handed one to her. She would lie if she said she wasn't scared of holding a sword. A fucking sword, with a fucking sharp blade. The blade shined in the sun and she felt her hands shaking a little. He shouldn't just hand a sword to a pessimist like her!

"Firstly, you will learn how to properly hold a sword and footwork. Those are the basic stuff and everyone starts from there." Ben started talking and the girl forced herself to take a deep breath and calm herself down in order to listen to him.

Okay so, handling a sword was pretty hard, but at least she got the basics done. Ben had started complaining very loudly when she just couldn't get it right. She didn't hold anything against him though, because she knew that his mood was poor because of the heat.

She was very tired as she sat at the table in the galley; her had laid on top of it. The cook was chopping something in the small kitchen as they were the only ones there. She moaned as her backed ached from standing so straight and tense and she made a poor attempt to massage it.

The door to the galley opened but she didn't find the energy to look at who entered. But she heard a bark and raised her head as fast as she could. "Shushu!" She cooed lovingly and the dog running towards her. She took him in her arms and put him in her lap. She snuggled him and pat him lovingly. Oh how comforting was to have him there…

"Dogs aren't allowed in the kitchen." The cook said and Scarlet glanced at him. He was glaring down at her for breaking the rule, which was probably made up just now. "It's unhygienic."He continued and Scarlet looked at him pitifully. She probably had a very convincing puppy-face, Scarlet noted to herself as the cook grumbled and went back to preparing dinner.

"Cook-san, when will the food be ready?" she whined lightly, earning another grumble from the man. "Just in time for dinner!" He said in a gruff voice. Scarlet's stomach growled and whimpered pitifully.

The cook sighed exasperated and stopped chopping. After a few minutes he placed a plate with a sandwich next to her. She cried. The cook jumped, frantically asking what was wrong.

"Thank you… You are so kind, cook-san…" She managed between hiccups. "My name is Karl…" He grumbled again as he returned to his job.

She was just so hungry and tired… She savored the sandwich then laid her head on the table again. Her stomach was full, and her eyelids were dropping at a very fast pace… And soon she was fast asleep.

"Good morning, Akami-san." Goldy greeted the girl as she slowly sat up. She coughed; feeling dizzy as hell and wanting nothing more than empty the contents of her growling stomach. She vaguely wondered if this is how a hangover felt.

"Mornin' "She said quickly, frowning deeply as she placed her hand over her forehead and eyes, feeling as if somebody was hammering her cranium.

She didn't even notice that Goldy had walked next to her bed until he poked her with a small bottle. "Swallow this." He handed her a pill and a small bottle of water. She nodded groggily and swallowed the pill with a mouthful of water. No doubt it was some sort of painkiller; but he seemed to have prepared it from before, why?

"Why the hell am I like this?" She mumbled, rubbing her forehead in attempt to ameliorate her headache faster.

"You don't remember?" Goldy asked, not sounding surprised at all.

"You fell asleep at the table before dinner and when we woke you up you were weird again. So I explained everything carefully as you suggested. But it didn't help. You looked so lost that we almost laughed and when one of the men couldn't hold the laughter in, you drowned the nearest mug of grog down your throat." He chuckled, as if this was some very amusing situation.

Scarlet glared at him and he cleared his throat. "And yes, you asked for more and we gave you, so it is our fault also."

"So basically... You're telling me you got me drunk?" She carefully spoke every word, her tone very angry. Goldy seemed a bit intimidated, but who could blame him, since Scarlet was glaring at him with her vivid red eyes.

"...Yes." He said, looking at her apologetically.

"You idiots! What kind of adults are you, getting a 14 year old drunk!" She shouted, grabbing her pillow and swinging it at him with as much force she could muster. He was taken by surprise by the attack and got hit in the face, the doctor falling over the bed behind him_. _

_What the fuck! How could they be so irresponsible!_ The girl was boiling and her pounding head was not helping at all. Goldy got on his feet and went for the door.

"I'll come back after you calm down, ok? Drink lots of water."As soon as he finished he was out through the door. And the girl tried to do so, but she was unsuccessful for the first 10 minutes. Now she was more in her right mind, her anger seeping away. She rubbed her face again. This double personality thing was getting out of hand.

"Hey, the other conscience in my head, how are you?" She asked mockingly as she sipped some water. But it was soon spit out in utter shock.

'_My head is pounding but otherwise, fine.'_ A reply was the last thing she expected or wished for.

"What the fuck! Get out of my head!" It was not usual that she swore, but who could blame her in this situation. She shook her head in attempt to shake out the voice but that only ended up with her gripping her head, trying not to puke.

"Who the fuck are you?" She slurred.

'_I should be asking you that. You were the one that possessed my body. Are you a ghost or something?'_ The voice answered and Scarlet decided that she was dreaming, not caring how comically absurd it sounded to have a dream inside a dream. She played along for now.

"I'm not a ghost. My name is Scarlet and this is my body, so you are the ghost here." She said.

'_How dare you! I am most certainly not a ghost! My name is Akaumi.' _What? Isn't that the name she used as an alias?

'_Yes it is.'_ Scarlet jumped at the sudden reply to her thoughts. This was getting so creepy very fast. But it would explain why it came to her mind before all others.

'_I became aware of your presence in my mind so I am able to access your memories. But they seem to abruptly start at the island I ran away to.' _That was actually quite logical… So taking in the possibility this wasn't a dream, Akaumi can see just the memories she made in this world. Could she see hers as well? '_You might be able to.'_

And she did. Akaumi or Akami was born on a small island in the North Blue, that had Scarlet wondering how she got in East Blue. Akami was born from the affair of the village's 'witch' with the mayor. Her mother was very beautiful. She had white flowing hair and pure red eyes. The mayor was looked like an ordinary man who you would lose in a crowd of people in an instant. The 'witch' lived up to her name. She made Akami's a living hell so when the brunette deemed that she was old enough to survive; she stole some money and ran away to the East Blue.

"Why, in this world, all people have tragic pasts and shit?" She asked nobody in particular, but she got a reply _'I don't know.'_ A very helpful one at that.

'_Anyway, could you please leave my mind now? You even joined a pirate crew! And the marines! You're absolutely crazy. Please get out.'_ No way in hell. This was her paradise. And it might be selfish, but there was no way she was leaving.

"Can you control my movement?" Scarlet asked.

'_I have tried to. I even tried speaking with you but I couldn't until you invoked me.'_ Scarlet grinned. "Good, then. I assume you can only control your body once I am asleep." Akami approved.

"Listen, Akami, I don't wish to leave. I want, more than anything in this world or mine, to remain here." She said on a serious tone. If she had to develop insomnia in order to stay here, then she would.

'_Scarlet, please-' _Akami was cut off as Goldy returned with Shushu. Scarlet cooed the pet's name and took him in her arms.

"I'm sorry for hitting you, Goldy-san." Scarlet bowed her head in apology.

"It's alright. I suppose I deserved that." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"You did." Scarlet said and a moment of silence installed before the doctor cleared his throat.

"It's almost noon already. You should go and eat something if you want to attend Gebbo's lesson." He suggested and Scarlet nodded, moving to get out of her bed… only to see she was in her underwear.

"Goldyyyyyyyyyyyyy-" She fumed but the doctor ran out.

'_Pft. How embarrassing.' _And who got her in this mess in the first place?!

'_Don't worry. Nothing happened, if that is what you're worried about.'_ How reassuring. Scarlet sighed and let Shushu climb out of her lap before she got dressed.

She entered the dining room right when the food was served and everybody stopped to regard her for a moment before starting to laugh or whistle at her. Her face was as red as a tomato as she gritted her teeth and went to hide between Gebbo and Ben, cursing Akami in her mind.

"How are you feeling, Akami-san?" Ben asked as she heaved herself down the bench with a pout.

"Peachy." She groaned drowning out whatever Akami was saying in her head. A bowl filled with soup was set in front of her. She looked up to see Karl, looking down at her with worry in disguise of a scowl.

"Thank you, Karl-san." She smiled gratefully and reached for the spoon. The grumpy cook grumbled as he returned to his seat.

'_Ben is quite handsome, don't you think?'_ Akami giggled like a school-girl. Great, now her other self had a puppy love on a crewmate. What if she tried to molest him while she was sleeping?! Now she really wouldn't go to sleep. Ever.

'_I wouldn't!'_ Akami sounded profusely insulted. Scarlet was a bit relieved._ 'But did you know…'_ Scarlet listened as she ate.

'_From what I remember of my drunken haze, Gebbo told me he was the son of a world noble. But shh since it's supposed to be a secret…'_ All the chatter went silent in the room as Scarlet was choking on her food, coughing violently. The two men beside her were startled, but Ben recovered first and pat her on the back.

"Oi, are you ok?" He frowned as she desperately drew in air.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks." She nodded as her coughing subsided and the crew members resumed their conversation as soon as she confirmed it

_Are you trying to fucking kill me_, Scarlet thought as she resumed eating. _'I was telling the truth! Don't you think it's awesome?!'_ No, was her immediate reply. Akami whined and asked repeatedly why.

_Because_, Scarlet started explaining to her mentally,_ World Nobles are scum_. She tried not to let her distaste show outwardly. She could feel Akami's confusion so she continued_. On Shabody Archipelago, at the entrance of the New World they have a slave business. They buy slaves and the marines just turn a blind eye on that fact. And the World Nobles use their title that they do not deserve, to subdue people in obedience and fear._ Scarlet shot a glance at Ben. He didn't seem to be like them at all… Maybe not all of the World Nobles were bad. But if so, then why was he here instead of enjoying the quality life?

She pushed all thoughts about that away and sighed as she finished the soup. She caught Karl's gaze and she smiled widely.  
"The soup was great, Cook-san." She said loud enough for him to hear and he looked down, grumbling, seemingly embarrassed.

Gebbo caught her attention, asking her if she finished. She nodded and they both stood up and walked outside.

"You were pretty wild last night," he said with a snicker and Scarlet scowled, her cheeks reddening. "You danced on the table and sang." He looked at her, appearing very impressed.

"And very well, I might add."

She was beyond embarrassment now. She cursed Akami and the girl laughed. _'Sorry, I didn't know I could do that either. But it seems we can borrow each other talents and abilities. That'll come in handy for sure.'_ Sure it would if her other self had any talents. _'Hey, I have talents that are more helpful in this world than yours.' _Hm, like what? Scarlet was busy conversing with Akami and was being led by Gebbo to the 'training grounds' as she liked to call it. _'I can fire a bow, and have god aim. I would probably do well with a gun as well. And posses knowledge of plants and survival stuff.'_ Is that so… Scarlet was vaguely impressed. Certainly, they would come in handy at some point.

Akami was about to say something smug but Gebbo spoke first.

"Have you ever held a pistol?" Scarlet was quick to nod no_. 'But I did'_ Scarlet shushed the other girl. God it was going to be so tiring sharing a mind with another person.

"Okay so first you have to get used to it. It's pretty heavy." He held out a gun to her.

Indeed, it seemed to be heavy than rock in her hand as she carefully held her finger away from the trigger. Akami told her that it felt different than a bow and that she was very excited to try it. But Scarlet was not all that eager. Yet she felt a rush of excitement budding.

"Can I shoot?" She found herself asking faster than she could think.

Gebbo was hesitant to allow her but in the end he nodded and showed her how to properly hold the gun.

"Be careful. Don't go deaf." She nodded and extended her hand and coiled her finger around the trigger.

Gebbo placed a red carton on a barrel further away from her to serve as her target. She carefully eyes it and took aim. In her mind, she saw some memories of Akami's playing: the first time she shoot a bow, the way you had to hold it and all that. She just felt confident that she would hit the target. She knew instinctively how to aim well.

And_ BANG_, the gun went.

She squinted one of her eyes as her ear ached. What a loud noise it made… She looked at the target. She had hit it on the edge, leaving a circular hole in it. She couldn't help but be proud of herself_. You've got some pretty good stuff,_ Scarlet complimented her mind mate.But again, before Akami could be all smug about it, Gebbo congratulated her

"Very good! Very good for your first time!" He patted her on the back and she smiled at him. _I will so become a mary-sue with all these skills_, she thought mockingly, but she was actually elated to have them. Akami asked her what a mary-sue was but she didn't answer since Gebbo had started talking to her about safety and gunning.

Scarlet let herself fall on the hard mattress of her bed as she sighed. It was already dark outside and most of the crew had gone to sleep. She just finished her evening lesson with the captain. It had been very interesting- he taught her about the basics of navigation and how to determine her location on the sea. He also taught her how the marine ranks worked.

Akami yawned in her mind. How come she was tired as well?

'_We have just one energy tank._ _It usually stays full, since I sleep while you are awake. But since I spent the day with you, I am also drained.'_ Scarlet nodded as she folded one arm behind her head.

Shushu, who had tailed her the whole evening, jumped on the bed beside her and coiled up. She mindlessly started patting him.

'_I think you're right, you know.'_ Scarlet's eyes closed slowly from exhaustion. About what?, she asked her mind mate.

'_About those gold hoops anchoring your soul inside my body.' _ Scarlet remained quiet so Akami continued talking. _'Where do you come from, Scarlet?_' She asked. After debating a few moments, she explained to her other self about it.

'_That's pretty amazing.' _Akami laughed lightly_._

'_But what happens with your body while you are here?'_

'_Sleeping. It's probably just an empty shell while I am here. (S)'_

'_If you have to recuperate the time you spend here, in your world, then you should be careful how long you hang around. Or being careful so the gold hoops don't come off. (A)'_

'_I don't want to go back. I love being here. (S)' _Scarlet turned on her side and lazily took her sandals off, then slipped her feet under the thin blanket.

'_Good night, Akami.'_

Two weeks had passed since Scarlet discovered the existence of Akami and it took her very little time to get used to it. Most of the days, her doppelganger would be awake and assisting through her lessons. The rest of the time, she would be sleeping, as she was also doing now. It was Tuesday, and that meant she was practicing gunning with Gebbo. She had spent quite some time thinking about the whole 'double-conscience' thing. It was quite logical if you thought it like this: in every world you existed, but unaware of it. It was the two girls' preferred subject to discuss before going to sleep. She remembered the myth about the doppelganger on one of those nights and she hoped that they wouldn't have bad luck. Akami laughed it off, but Scarlet was quite superstitious.

"Gebbo, hurry on the deck. A pirate ship had been sighted." Ben rushed, pointing behind him. The bigger man nodded then beckoned Scarlet to follow. The brunette was panicking a little. What if they encountered the straw-hats? No,no,no, that couldn't be possible!

She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding when she saw another jolly roger than the straw-hat's. But the ship was still so far away… What would the marines do?

It seemed that the pirates also noticed them, as they loaded a canon which struck them right in the bleak head.

She heard a lot of the crew members curse and shout orders to examine the ship for holes. The ship was now moving at a higher speed and the pirate ship neared considerably. Scarlet moved to the edge of the deck, gun still in her hand. She had progressed quite a lot with the help of Akami's skills and Gebbo's tutoring.

She seemed to have chosen the same course of action as Gebbo because he also, was beside her and taking aim.

"Don't kill anybody." He said, in a slightly mocking tone.

"It'll try." She smiled and took aim. The pirate ship was almost next to them so it was not very though shooting a man in the arm. They were all were very robust and carried all kinds of weapons. Gebbo managed to hit 4 of them in the legs, crippling them for a while.

"Gebbo-san! We've recognized the captain! His name is Windy Trump and has a bounty of 1.000.000 berries on his head!" Scarlet laughed without knowing. Gosh his name and his appearance.. Just so hilarious.

"What are you laughing at, brat!" The man called Windy shouted at her while she took aim, trying to shoot his leg. Unfortunately he swiftly dodged and looked smugly at her.

"Let's go everybody!" The marines shouted as they jumped on the pirate ship, weapons drawn.

Gebbo grabbed her waist and jumped also, knowing that she might need help.

Okay so, she would lie if she said she wasn't scared. Tall men were fighting all around her, the pirates swinging their swords like madmen.

'_Duck!'_ She reflexively bent backwards as she watched a sword being swung right where her head had been a second ago. She thanked the gods for Akami's great timing. _'Whoohooo! Let's butcher 'em!'_ She laughed manically, but Scarlet didn't have the time to listen to her since in front of her was the captain of the pirate ship.

"PFT!" She tried very hard not to laugh, and that seemed to tick off the angry pirate even more proven that he cursed her to hell.

He was towering over her impressively, looking thrice her size, both wide-wise and height-size. She was a little intimidated by him. Just a little. Her palms were sweating again the gun, and she was aware that she was gaping at him. But she was soon violently snapped out of it as he swung his fist at her from the side, taking her surprise to his advantage.

She hit the edge of ship and some marines stopped to look at her with worry before being overtaken by their opponents because of their lost concentration. Windy yelled something that apparently got his crew members more fired up. But Scarlet couldn't make out any of it as her head was spinning wildly, limply falling against the deck. Pain seared through her body at a very high intensity and she was quite surprised she wasn't dead yet. Not dead, but certainly more panicked and afraid than ever.

Akami desperately tried to calm her down as the captain once again towered over her, smirking in superiority. He was reaching down to grab her and probably smash her cranium with his bare hands. No doubt that he could actually do it. She was frozen in fear as she saw his huge calloused hand reaching down for her in slow-motion. Akami was screaming something at her but her mind was also frozen.

He was almost there- she was one step away from death when finally Akami's shout was registered. 'RUN!' and she bolted. Every step was so agonizing but she was too afraid to stop. She looked behind her and saw Windy following her with a scowl on his face, disappointed that she ecaped.

She was ducking and dodging wildly as she ran, not knowing towards where. She hoped somebody would just kill Windy meanwhile. But no such luck. Scarlet gave a undignified scream as her head was grabbed. And she almost got away again but windy dug his fingers in her scalp and the gold rings holding her hair in buns fell on the deck, bent by the force of the man. Her gun also fell down.

She was thrashing desperately as he lifted her by the hair, tears pouring down her face in fear.

"Aww, don't cry little missy." Windy cooed mockingly then laughed loudly.

Deciding that no way in hell she would die by the hands of that disgusting gorilla, Scarlet thought fast. She had a plan… but could she pull it off? No matter, unless she tried, she died. Taking the man lowering his guard in arrogance to her advantage, Scarlet reached one had out to grab his arm, lifting her body up a little. That made Windy snap his attention back to her, but too late- She already managed to cut her hair, freeing himself from his grasp with a sharp pocket-knife given as a gift by Ben.

"You little sh-"He reached for her with his other hand but she managed to heave her body halfway up his shoulder. Then he shook his arm brutally, almost sending her flying but she managed to grab onto his oily hair with a flailing hand. And she coiled her legs around his neck very tightly. But of course his neck muscles were clenched so she couldn't strangle him unconscious.

Once again shot into panic by hands reaching to grab her she was out of plans. What could she do? If he grabbed her again, she was surely dead! And she did what she never even thought about doing. She stabbed him. Repeatedly; in the fucking face.

He let out an animalist scream of pain and she was violently thrown off while he was thrashing around in absolute pain while holding his face. In the next seconds he fell face-down on the deck.

With that, the tides turned in the small battle and the marines triumphed and were celebrating their victory. Scarlet was still sitting wide-eyed in the same place she was thrown, her knife sitting in her limp hand as she looked in horrified at the eye that was thrust in the blade. Breath hitched in her throat as she felt her insides flip. She threw the knife away wildly then she looked terror-stricken at her bloody hand.

The crew didn't seem to notice her delicate situation, besides Gebbo and Ben who were shouting madly at a few men who were flipping the dead body of Windy. Scarlet screamed as it all finally broke down in her. Windy's face was absolutely mutilated, an eye socket empty and the other pupil pierced; he had 3 stab wounds in once cheek and his nose was cut off. The crew all turned to her, startled, finally realizing their mistake and hurrying to call Goldy or take her on their ship. It was quite hard since Scarlet was crying uncontrollably, her hands pressed to her face as blood smeared her facial features.

Scarlet was left alone for the next few days, so she could recover. Goldy had told the crew that she had suffered a breakdown because she killed a man. The doctor suspected that never in her life she had done that or even gave it a thought. That forced the men discussing to wonder in what calm environment she grew up so she wouldn't even think about ending someone's life. Most people wouldn't react like that. Then they were forced to wonder why the hell she didn't thought about having to kill pirates when she joined the marines. Their conversation ended as Goldy told them that they should just leave her alone for a while, to let her sort it out. Then the two partners walked out on the deck.

"What do you think of Akami, Gebbo-san?" Ben asked as he sat down next to a barrel.

"You know I have a good opinion of her." The bigger man answered, rubbing his stubbled chin. "But sometimes she just seems so fragile. That's probably why there are a few women in the marines."

Ben remained quiet for a second before sighing and shaking his head. "You know that's not the case. Her mentality is simply too weak. She is not too bad with the gun and has good mobility but other than that and the pretty face, she's got nothing to help her in the marines." He didn't mean to insult her; he just pointed it out, hoping that maybe he and his partner could figure something out to strengthen her mentality. They were the ones who brought her on the ship, even though they could have left her alone to her business.

He sighed again, rubbing his face. There was no way they would have left her on that boat with a wound like that on her back so they had to take responsibility of bringing her in.

"I believe she'll be okay." Gebbo said on an amused tone.

"How can you be so sure?" Ben tried to appear nonchalant, but he was close to snapping.

"Ben if you're that worried, than you should just check up on her yourself." Gebbo raised an eyebrow at him, obviously feeling his partner's mood. Ben just waved it off, saying that he didn't want to and that Gebbo was just hallucinating. The older man just smiled and said just one more thing before leaving.

"The infirmary is full of sharp objects; hopefully she hasn't accidentally injured herself." That would be pretty much impossible unless the brunette had suicidal thoughts. But Ben needed a reason to check up on her so he'll leave it at that.

Ben figured what Gebbo was doing but remained silent. As much as he would deny it, he was quite worried about the girl. So he got up and went to the infirmary.

He knocked once to announce his arrival and after a few seconds he opened the door. The girl was sitting at Goldy's desk, applying some ointment to the ugly purple bruises on her arm and shoulder as her pet dog laid on her lap, swishing his tail in contempt. She looked up briefly then resumed her work, remaining silent.

Ben was lost as of what to say. Should he just ask how she was feeling, or should he claim that everything was going to be fine? Or should he give her a speech of how it was ok to kill as long as she was a marine. He had watched how she got captured by Windy and how she stabbed him. She thought fast under pressure and then just acted on instinct. He knew that she was going to become a fine marine if she continued training- but her state of mind was a bit worrying.

"Could you cut my hair?" He was pulled out of his musings as she held some scissors to him. He nodded, taking the object and walking behind her. He hadn't ever tried this before in his life. But surely it wouldn't be that hard. And since she asked him; that meant she wasn't going to complain of his work.

"Are you hurting anywhere?" He asked between cutting.

"Immensely." She answered shortly before closing her eyes.

Damn, it was harder than it looked. Ben had managed to give her hair a reasonably pretty shape, but it was twice shorter than it had been. Maybe she ought to have waited for them to reach an island and go to a hairdresser's.

She noticed he stopped moving, so assuming he was done she opened her eyes and reached for the gold-trimmed mirror sitting on top of the desk. Ben was quite surprised when he saw the expensive object. Was she the daughter of a wealthy family?, he couldn't help but think.

"Thank you." She turned her head around and gave him a small smile. His cheeks reddened as he quickly looked away, waving it off as nothing. He had to congratulate himself greatly, although. She looked even prettier than she had with her hair as short as it was. Her dejected expression as she touched the side of her head caught his attention.

"Is there something wrong?" The girl shook her head lightly.

"I just really liked these rings." She looked at the two bent objects on the table. "I really liked wearing them. But I guess that is impossible now…" She explained then a moment of silence set in.

He cleared his throat and she turned to look at him again. He fixated her with a serious expression. "How are you feeling?"He asked, staring at her.

She shifted her eyes to the ground and smiled sadly. "Trying to convince myself, to indulge myself in the delusion that I haven't just ended a man's life. May he be a pirate or not, he is still a man whose life was stolen."

Ben remained quiet for a minute and he simply gazed at her. Somehow, she seemed different. She seemed so guilty, yet so innocent in the same time. "He is a man feared on these waters. He pillages villages, rapes women and had killed many men." He tried to reason.

She looked at him with that heart wrenching guilty smile. "Is that motive enough to kill him?" She looked downwards again, her smile disappearing into a sad frown. "He should not have been killed. He should have been sent to atone for his crimes. We are not like them, Ben; we don't kill people, not even pirates." She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her small nose."Could you please leave me now? I just want to sleep a little." She stood up wearily, holding the dog in her embrace as she walked to her bed.

He headed for the door; stopping to glance at the gold hoops for a second, then back at the girl. He took them then went out. They could be fixed; it was just an accessory after all. He knew the right guy to do that also.

'_What are you going to do? Without the hoops, there is no certainty that you'll remain here.'_ Akami voiced the worries pressing on her mind. "I could use a trip back home… At least there my hands are still clean…"

Akami tried to encourage Scarlet and ease her mind but gave up when it proved fruitless. _'Fine then. Go home. But remember you are responsible for getting me into this mess.' _Akami would actually get a little lonely without her companion.

Scarlet curled up in a ball and hugged the dog closer like a toy. Even if he minded, he didn't let out even a growl. _'How were you planning to go on a journey with those pirates if you didn't expect to kill anyone?'_

"No, they're not like that… Just leave me alone…" Scarlet whimpered and Akami obliged with a sigh. And in the calming stillness of the infirmary and the pleasantly darkness outside, Scarlet fell asleep.


End file.
